Quickly create and share engaging social media images with Pablo - no registration required! Choose the shape of your image to match the platform where you will share, namely wide for Twitter and Facebook or square for Instagram. Add text and edit the font type, size, and colors. Select a background image from Pablo's many options or upload your own image. When finished, use links to Tweet, share on Facebook, or download and use any way that you like.

In the Classroom

Engage your class by creating a teaser for upcoming units using an image created with Pablo. Create images with favorite quotes as an introduction to any lesson. At the beginning of the year, print out images with inspirational quotes to put on bulletin boards. Share what you created on your website or blog. Have students create an image to "introduce" themselves to the class during the first week of school. Link or embed the introductory presentations in your class wiki, and have others guess who is portrayed. Use this tool to create short story summaries.

In the Classroom

Share an animated GIF to get student's attention! A cat reading a book is one way to begin reading time! Show any science concept a student should look at several times to see every aspect of the event. Some ideas to search for might be the development of an organism, cell division, a chemical reaction, formation of stars, or a bullet in slow motion. Do you want to reveal portions of a video outlining the travels of historic expeditions, addition of the states to the US, or any other historical event captured in a video? Use a looping animated GIF! Every subject could use one of these GIFs to generate interest in a class activity or new content. Use these examples as inspiration to create your own animated GIF's using GIFMaker, reviewed here.

Create an interactive categorization activity with Dustbin. Give the activity a title and begin adding categories. Add items in up to four different categories. When finished, drag and drop items as quickly as possible into the correct bin. Use the provided links to share the activity, embed into a blog or web page, or print it. Use password protection if desired to limit access. Click the question mark on the bottom right toolbar, and scroll down that page to find many templates for inspiration or use.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Develop Dustbin activities to review any topic and save for use as a classroom center. Have students create review Dustbins as a study tool. Be sure to demonstrate how to make and share Dustbin before having students set up their own. Ideas for categorization activities are unlimited, but can include categorizing types of animals, literary elements in novels, habitats, characteristics of geographic areas, and much more.

Design professional looking front pages for a newspaper with this tool. Simply fill in the pertinent information (headline, date, place, and more) and an image. Share via URL, Twitter, or download to your computer. There is also the ability to save a blank template. Be sure to view the several samples available, and click on the little question mark at the end of the title to see ideas for use of this tool. No registration is necessary.

In the Classroom

Assess students prior knowledge by creating a Breaking News piece to introduce a new unit. Ask students to fill in an interactive KWL chart from Holt, reviewed here, or discuss in small groups what they know about the topic. Use in presentation slides by downloading the image from your computer. Then upload the image to a slide presentation creator such as Slidestory, reviewed here. Suggest to students that they do the same for their presentations. Use as a timeline of events for lab experiment, a novel study, historical event, and more. You might want to think about using this tool as a storyboard for digital storytelling; printing blank templates would work well for storyboarding.

Conduct virtual conferences with up to 25 people at one time with Free Conference Call. Instantly share your screen during online calls for participant viewing. Other features allow for recording and sharing meetings when finished. After creating an account, follow instructions for inviting participants and setting up the conference call.

In the Classroom

Use Free Conference Call to set up virtual parent/teacher conferences with participants located anywhere in the world. This is especially useful when multiple teachers are involved or when parents may not reside in the same location. Share your screen as needed to provide information on assessments and student work.

Use the news and improve reading scores. Jellybean Scoop offers different news articles, written daily, at four different Lexile reading levels. Levels for articles are Starter, Single, Double, and Triple. Find articles in categories of World News, Nature and Science, Odd News, Inspiration and Health, and Fun Facts. Each story has an audio recording and the ability to record yourself reading it. Find activities such as vocabulary, sentence scramble, and a quiz. See the many Demo Videos to really understand the powerful features on Jellybean Scoop. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Achieve three goals here: differentiate, help students improve their reading comprehension, and keep students current with what is happening in our nation and the world. When assigning articles, choose to have the class read at one reading level, or choose individuals and set the reading level for them. Set up different articles at different learning stations on the computers in your room. Since Jellybean Scoop is cloud based, even absent students can complete the missed work easily. Teachers of gifted students can use this site to accelerate or enrich reading for students. Teachers of Learning Support students and ESL/ELL students will love this alternate way for their students to meet current events requirements. Teachers with free accounts can have up to 25 students. If you have a larger class, there is a "work around" for this. If you have a Gmail account, you can add subaccounts (see directions to do this here). You could create another Jellybean account with this subaccount, but you would end up with two different accounts on Jellybean Scoop.

Take your standard PowerPoint to new interactive levels with this tool! Add video or audio, write on your slides as you present, and even insert quizzes and polls. Take the limited PowerPoint presentation and "mix" it with the best parts of a live lecture in one tool. Each PowerPoint slide contains additional tabs for the added information. Since each slide is independent and contains the video, audio, or screencast, those slides can still be reordered by dragging them into the correct order. Insert information from Khan Academy or CK-12 as well. Easily control the number of attempts with quizzes, provide hints, add a timer, randomize the questions, or give feedback. Analytics are provided as well to see student interaction with the material. Each Mix lives online and can be accessed with any browser. Give the link to students for access. Mixes cannot be saved on your computer. Find ways to use with popular Learning Management Systems (LMS) like Moodle, Blackboard, Canvas, and more with these tutorials found here. Note: Mixes can only be created with a PC and PowerPoint 2013 (not free).

In the Classroom

Use this tool to create Flipped Lessons, moving some material like knowledge activities, as a pre-class activity. Office Mix is a valuable tool when you will be out of the classroom. Your plans are ready to go! Absent students can easily follow the content from the day. Differentiate for your classroom by creating a Mix that can be used for students to review as needed. Students who need it can review while others can focus on the material that they need. Use this tool wherever a PowerPoint with more detailed explanations are needed. Club advisors can use this tool to show 'how to' information for extracurriculars or field trips. Use this tool to show how to complete forms correctly, saving time and frustration! Students can create a Mix to share information researched for a class presentation.

The 180 Days Challenge is based on the PBS series 180 Days: Hartsville documentary. Take the challenge as a teacher, administrator, or parent to answer problem-based scenarios related to education. After completion, view results that provide insight into your education style and how it relates to the current educational climate. In addition to the challenge questions, this site includes several video excerpts from the series featuring events such as conferences and a discussion of generational poverty. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable. You could always view them at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Take the 180 Days Challenge as part of your professional development activities. Use individual scenarios as a prompt for discussions within your school or grade level. Be sure to share this site with other teachers and administrators as part of your ongoing teaching discussions. Use videos found on the 180 Days Challenge to discuss how your school handles different classroom situations.

Deekit is an online collaborative whiteboard tool for use with any device. Sign-in using social networking accounts such as Google or Facebook to begin. Import images, draw, type, and zoom in on content using the site's tools. Click the arrow next to the Current board to send an email to invite others to collaborate. Deekit also includes a small library of templates for import into your whiteboard. Watch Deekit's tutorial by clicking on YouTube at the bottom right of any page. View the tutorial to see how to use this site and take advantage of the tools included. If your district blocks YouTube, the video may not be viewable. You could always view the video at home and bring it to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Deekit is an excellent tool to use for impromptu peer tutoring sessions or hosting online brainstorming sessions. Students can also use it on 1:1 or BYOD devices during class to collaborate on diagrams, brainstorms, or mind maps. This tool is perfect for snow days and school breaks. Use as a place to collect webquest links and information. Solicit input, discussions, or viewpoints from students. Use as a new format for book reports. Use for students to illustrate their personal definitions for vocabulary words. Need an open space for debates or viewpoints? Post assignments, reminders, or study skills. Do you use student scribes or reporters? Use this tool for them to record information from the class that you can share via a link on your class web page to review class explanations when completing homework, for absent students, and more.

Looking to identify a wild bird? Visit the Merlin site to download the Merlin ID app for any phone or device. When using a mobile device, the Merlin app asks a series of five questions starting with when and where, followed by choosing a basic body type and other questions. View the generated list of possibilities to find your bird and identify it! Merlin is capable of recognizing 400 of the most commonly encountered birds in the US and Canada. When you choose the bird, data is recorded with Merlin. Read more about your identified bird and listen to its bird song. The Merlin bird identifier is designed for beginning and intermediate bird watchers. Note: When using Merlin on the web upload a photo of the bird, and then follow the prompts to place "pointers" on the bird image. The web version cannot be used to identify a bird and is different from The Merlin ID app.

In the Classroom

Use this app when out in the field with your students for any reason and for any subject. Encourage observation by students in identifying birds that are located in your community. Follow the identification of the bird by creating related art, music, poetry, or stories. In Biology, identify how the bird fits into the food chain. Identify the plant species that each bird uses for food or shelter. In Math, map the sightings of birds, looking at density of various species.

This resource is an excellent online activity to learn Python through coding challenges. Choose a challenge and solve the problem to move onto another challenge. Complete each of the tasks to gain points and move to the next area. Designed for beginners and experts students will have to stick with it to be able to move past the beginning as the backstory is lost moving from one action assignment to another. The story can be the one item that makes this site different from other coding challenges. After most of the challenges, the solutions are shown. Create an account or log in through Google or Facebook.

In the Classroom

Allow students to a variety of different types of coding. Use this site to learn Python. Once students have used several different coding sites, discuss what they learned from the process. Brainstorm and discuss the following: What is the use of learning coding? What are the similarities and differences of the various coding platforms? Use an online interactive Two or Three-Circle Venn Diagram, reviewed here, and here, for the comparisons of the coding programs.

Simply Circle makes communicating with groups easy and productive. Create your account to send messages, share files or images, or set up events and tasks to members of your Circles. Use links in your events to request volunteers, ask participants to bring items, or request RSVP's. Create Circles by adding email addresses; members of your circle do not need to be a member of Simply Circle to view the emails. Add additional Circle managers if desired to allow others to send information to your group.

In the Classroom

Set up Circles for all of your different classroom and professional needs. Use this tool to find and sign up classroom volunteers, plan supplies for parties and events, and send parent/teacher conference reminders. Share with your school's parent/teacher organization as an excellent communication and scheduling tool. Keep research groups and literature circles organized. Create a circle for each group, send the code, via email. When sending the code to join use the manager section of the page to make them managers of the group. Students can then post files, images, schedule dates for you and the other group members. Students will not be able to see or add to other groups you have formed.

Learn the basic steps for creating a grading rubric with this informative site. Find out why you need rubrics and the six basic steps for designing a rubric for any project. Most of the steps also include links to examples and templates for different situations such as discussions, presentations, and other types of projects.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site for use when creating a rubric of any kind. Share with students and have them set up their own rubrics, based on the requirements, for projects. Doing this may help clarify the requirements. Be sure to check out other TeachersFirst Rubrics resources here.

Oakland Schools provides an extensive collection of Common Core aligned resources for all grade levels. Read through the information on the main page for how to use the site to browse and search features. Items include unit calendars, curriculum maps, and standards alignment in all subjects and for grades K-12. Be sure to check out the Reference pull-down for many resources to use in teaching and planning using Common Core Standards.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site for use throughout the year to plan and teach lessons using Common Core Standards. Use this site as a guide when developing yearly plans for implementing Common Core Standards in your classroom. Share with school administrators and leaders as a reference for planning.

Learn how to engage students through digital learning, integrate technology into any curriculum, and effectively use digital resources in the classroom with these free, online courses. Multimedia contents include animated eLearning tutorials and interactive learning exercises. Begin any of the self-paced courses anytime and complete them at your own pace.

In the Classroom

Gain a better understanding of digital learning tools and techniques by taking Intel's professional development courses. Share with other faculty members as part of your school's professional development. Take a course together with fellow staff members and discuss content and how it works in your teaching situation.

Imagine a one-stop site for creating, editing, and distributing your school supply list and wish list to parents and others. That's Amazon School Lists. Login to your Amazon account and add supplies. Choose a grade to see suggested supplies or add your own. Choose from categories to add items. Categories include most popular items as well as specific items such as paper, pencils, or health and cleaning supplies. Edit items to add a comment, show as optional, or state that similar items are fine. Share the final list through email, URL, or several social networking links.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Create an Amazon School List for your building or teaching team and distribute your supply list or a wish list in an easy to find format for parents to access anytime and anywhere. Share what your class specifically needs to be ready for the start of school or a new marking period. Include the links to your lists on your class web page. Library/media specialists can share a schoolwide list to keep the media center well stocked with supplies. Art teachers can request the craft items and supplies they need. Even grandparents can help out the school when they know what is needed. Share with your school's parent organization for creating their own lists.

Organize and annotate videos and files with Acclaim. Acclaim's step-by-step process and prompts makes creating courses, sharing course information, creating folders within courses, and adding videos or files almost effortless. The free registration is referred to as a demo. Register with email and create a course, a Course URL will be given. No need to copy it at this time. Clicking on the setting symbol on any course (and even folders) will give you the URL again. Students will need an email to join and access your courses and folders. Folders and courses can be made public or private. When prompted, upload files (including videos you created) from Dropbox, Google Drive, your computer, and others. Do this by "choosing" from a list, or using the "drag and drop" method. Add videos, your own recorded on a webcam, or from Vimeo or YouTube by pasting in their URL. Teachers and students can annotate videos at certain points with comments and questions. These comments and questions will receive a time stamp. If you organize your videos and documents within a course with folders, once students have registered with their email, you will need to go into the folder settings and give them access. Acclaim is 100% web based, and it is mobile friendly for all devices.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Acclaim is a terrific tool for any teacher who likes to show and discuss certain aspects of videos in class. No more talking over the video or pausing to ask a question or make a comment. Use Acclaim in class to pause and have the discussion questions visible from the video. This works exceptionally well if you want to flip a lesson and have students watch the video from home and be prepared to discuss in class, or if you use stations in your classroom. Students can also put in questions for clarification at the time they are watching. Share Acclaim with research groups for uploading documents and videos they are thinking of using in presentations and projects. Physical education teachers will find Acclaim useful to pause and review certain aspects of a game or exercise you've recorded. Share the URL via email or post to your website or blog.

Learn the basics of photo editing jargon with this interactive resource. Click any term to view a definition, examples, and an interactive sliding animation demonstrating photo edits using this feature. You may not become an expert in photo editing after using this interactive, but it is an excellent start to becoming familiar with the many vocabulary terms used with photo editing software.

In the Classroom

Introduce this tutorial to students on an interactive whiteboard or projector at the beginning of the school year to help students become familiar with photo editing terms. Be sure to create a link to this site on your class website or blog for use throughout the year when creating digital projects. Share with your school's art, photography, or computer science teacher as an excellent resource for use with their students.

Enjoy and challenge creativity and problem-solving skills in a world of wonder. Once you sign up for Wonderment, a social platform for kids, choose a bot or secret identity. Given a choice to follow many different paths, kids determine the subject of interest. The paths are real-world problems from around the globe. View a video, story, or idea. Design a response using text, photos, or a video. Join a chat to allow comments or ask questions to make global connections. After each posting, special points are added to make the bot design more elaborate. A personal Wondermeter rises with each response. Through donations, this non-profit brings technology to children around the world. A call for adults to serve as mentors to respond to each child challenges adults to join in the fun and make the world a better place. Register with email. Children under 13 need parent or teacher approval to participate. Watch the two short videos to see an explanation for The Wonderment and How It Works.

In the Classroom

Wonderment is a problem based learning adventure for each student around the world to communicate and collaborate with other students. This venue allows great lesson ideas for digital citizenship and digital footprints. Begin by choosing a path for the entire class and feature on an interactive whiteboard. Have students work in small groups to choose their best response. Discussions after can focus on creativity, problem solving, and collaboration between the group and others from around the world. In a gifted class, use as a way to challenge kids to break through the "right answer" and find the "best answer." Use this as a model for finding authentic needs in your community. Be sure to share a link to this tool on your class blog, website, or Edmodo account. Use this tool as the answer for the parents who always want more challenge and enrichment for their students at home. Be sure to share at a staff meeting to spread the wonder for other students and adults.

Use the magic of Star Wars to spark learning and imagination in many curricular areas with resources found on this site. Choose the Content Areas link to find lessons and activities in mythology, social studies, science, and more. Be sure to check out the ELA resources that include many literature-related activities with themes such as good vs. evil and heroes and villains. The History content has sections on geography, world religions, elections, current events, and more.
Several portions of the site include activities to download in PDF format.

In the Classroom

Appeal to students through the movies they love using Star Wars in the Classroom. Collaborate with teachers to create a cross-curricular Star Wars unit. Use resources from this site with gifted students or for independent learners. The lessons and units at this site lend themselves to having students make multimedia presentations about what they learned. Use one of the many TeachersFirst Edge Tools, reviewed here. Have students use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about a Star Wars character.